METROWEST DAILY NEWS – Ten years after buying it from the state, the owner of the long-vacant armory on Lincoln Street has once again put the property on the market.

Ming Wang, the owner of the historic building, has in the past tried unsuccessfully to get approval to develop the property into housing or tear it down. The property, along with an abutting parcel that until recently had a house built on it, has also been listed on the market in the past, although efforts to sell the aging building were unsuccessful.

Wang’s attorney, Jack Milgram, said on Thursday that he and his client are hopeful that they will have better luck finding a buyer this time around. The property is listed for just under $600,000.

Milgram said that if a sale doesn’t go through, Wang might bring another redevelopment proposal before the council. The relationship between the council and Wang has been testy in the past – the council shot down Wang’s proposal in 2008 to turn the building into 12 condos.

Milgram said he imagines that both his client and city officials are eager for progress on the site.

“I think everybody is frustrated,” he said.

Marlborough Economic Development Executive Director Tim Cummings said on Thursday that the armory represents an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to downtown redevelopment.

“I think it’s an iconic building that has some historic value that the city should be paying attention to,” he said. “It is currently a blighted area within the heart of the city.”
Cummings said that redevelopment of the armory could lead to further redevelopment in the Lincoln Street area.

“Because of where it is in the city, it is a property that I would highlight as being crucial to spur additional economic development,” he said.

He acknowledged, however, that the parcel has a rocky history and said that any redevelopment would take a high level of cooperation on all sides.

“It’s going to take a cooperative effort among many different stakeholders to bring that site to a point where it’s going to be useable,” he said “It’s been underutilized for decades.”